[He shuts the window and draws the dark curtains across it
     again.]

Fool!  Nothing!

     [Clenching his fists, he draws himself up, steadying himself
     with all his might.  Then slowly he moves to the door, stands a
     second like a carved figure, his face hard as stone.]

     [Deliberately he turns out the light, opens the door, and goes.]

     [The still bodies lie there before the fire which is licking at
     the last blackened wafer.]

CURTAIN

THE LITTLE MAN

A FARCICAL MORALITY IN THREE SCENES

CHARACTERS

The little man. 
The American. 
The Englishman. 
The ENGLISHWOMAN. 
The German. 
The Dutch boy. 
The mother. 
The baby. 
The waiter. 
The station official. 
The policeman. 
The Porter.

SCENE I

Afternoon, on the departure platform of an Austrian railway station.  At several little tables outside the buffet persons are taking refreshment, served by a pale young waiter.  On a seat against the wall of the buffet a woman of lowly station is sitting beside two large bundles, on one of which she has placed her baby, swathed in a black shawl.

Waiter. [Approaching a table whereat sit an English traveller and his wife] Two coffee?

Englishman. [Paying] Thanks. [To his wife, in an Oxford voice] Sugar?

ENGLISHWOMAN. [In a Cambridge voice] One.

American traveller. [With field-glasses and a pocket camera from another table] Waiter, I’d like to have you get my eggs.  I’ve been sitting here quite a while.

Waiter.  Yes, sare.

German traveller.  ‘Kellner, bezahlen’! [His voice is, like his moustache, stiff and brushed up at the ends.  His figure also is stiff and his hair a little grey; clearly once, if not now, a colonel.]

Waiter.  ‘Komm’ gleich’!

     [The baby on the bundle wails.  The mother takes it up to soothe
     it.  A young, red-cheeked Dutchman at the fourth table stops
     eating and laughs.]

American.  My eggs!  Get a wiggle on you!

Waiter.  Yes, sare. [He rapidly recedes.]

     [A little man in a soft hat is seen to the right of tables.  He
     stands a moment looking after the hurrying waiter, then seats
     himself at the fifth table.]

Englishman. [Looking at his watch] Ten minutes more.

ENGLISHWOMAN.  Bother!